| OCR Text |
Show in the bottomlands of Rabbit Gulch the swal lows were abundant, An estuary of the reason given in the diary for the name Las Golondrinas. the reservoir now covers the apparently difficult cl imb to the "sierra." it was here Some two mi les up from the buried mouth of the arroyo, Rabbit Gulch but it soon begins to was then described, an open "arroyo," narrow. It IS the as it is overwhelmed rising plateau to the west. by deeper in its and an water parts deeper intermittently, truly arroyo, carrying only is scarcely twenty feet wide although hundreds of feet deep. is as it and grow About four mi les upstream the arroyo is joined by another coming from the north just as Escalante describes it. But here, he says, they continued north-south Because in later naming, up the one going to the northwest. Gulch. to descrIbe the it is name Rabbit necessary arroyO' cantinues "maining part of the canyan through which they climbed as Sink Draw or Sink Hoi low. the. the.re- point Sink Draw is sti I I narrow and deep but gradually apens out, permitting our travelers to leave it to the west, ascend an upper val ley and ridge, and then br'eak aut into the In the ascending plain to open. the west, it crosses the to Tabiona (State highway 208), a highway which I ikely preserves the wei I-traveled Indian trai I from the Uinta Mountains to the country of the Price River and the Tavaputs Plateau. Undoubtedly th is is the "we I I-beaten path" they crossed. At this West from th i s intersect ion, the tta i I passes up an open p I a In, through the lower part of a ridge, and descends into the meadows of Red Creek. Here it would seem that the exact site of the camp of San Eustaquio cannot be identified, although a definite trai I down fram the ridge from the east somewhat fits the description. There also appear to be abundant springs in several locations up the creek same two mi les north of Highway 40. . RESEARCH METHODS Much af this day's travel was researched consideratian to passible alternatives. Then first upan maps, several givIng trips by vehicle intO' parts of the trail helped make it clear quite that, improbable as it first seemed, S i I vestre did indeed take the pa r+v through the narthern laap af canyons af the Strawberry and from there up Habbit Gluch and Sink lJraw. I ie an Why? After ane has fal lowed the trai I awhile, the answer seems to in Silvestre's remarkable knowledge af the cauntry. Here, indeed, is example af his chaasing the most direct route. Hawever, there may also have another reason, namely, that this for pine nuts. This day's route passed at the edge of a great pin ian farest. Conceivably this wauld at tract numeraus and pass i b I y host i I e bands of I nd i ans Rabb j t G I uch and Sink Draw wauld provide an ideal hidden road carrying the party without detectian past the large forest. Tired as they were, they pushed an through the apen cauntry to' the encampment beyond the ridge in Red Creek. They had traveled 25 mi les that day through very difficult was the beginning of the harvest been season . cauntry. -109- |
